Zhelyu Zhelev

Zhelyu Zhelev (3 March 1935-30 January 2015) was the first democratically-elected President of Bulgaria, in office from 1 August 1990 to 22 January 1997, succeeding Nikolai Todorov and preceding Petar Stoyanov.

Biography
Zhelyu Zhelev was born on 3 March 1935 in Veselinovo in Shumen Province, Tsardom of Bulgaria (present-day Bulgaria). In 1958 he graduated from Sofia University with a degree in philosophy, and he became a politician in Communist Bulgaria. He was expelled from the Bulgarian Communist Party in 1965 and was unemployed for six years, as all employment in Bulgaria was state-regulated. In 1982 he wrote "The Fascism", a publication that likened socialist Bulgaria to the fascist Tsardom of Bulgaria. The book was controversial and was removed from bookshelves, and Zhelev became a major opposition leader in Bulgaria as communism fell in eastern Europe. On 1 August 1990 he was made the interim President of Bulgaria, and he was the leader of the Union of Democratic Forces, a conservative Christian Democratic and anti-communist party - he was the first non-communist President of Bulgaria. He served his full five-year term as President from the first elections in January 1992 to 22 January 1997, and stepped out of the spotlight of public life after his term ended. He advocated a France-style government, and he died of natural causes on 30 January 2015 at the age of 79.